Music Review: Gerald Collier — How Can There Be Another Day?

Usually, when I'm writing a review, I'm excited at the prospect of helping a band reach even that one additional listener that might otherwise have never heard of them. Perhaps then I can be a small part of whatever career they are able to build for themselves fromtheir talents and musical aspirations.

This time, with How Can There Be Another Day?, the band in question, Collier's backing band during his time spent as an a Warner Bros. artist, have long-since been dropped by their original label, and had subsequently disbanded. Of course, that would have been the end of that, were it not for the fact Collier has remained active in the pursuit of his own artistic endeavors. Nonetheless, he returned to lovingly gather up and release the remaining moments of his work with this wonderful band through his new record label, In Music We Trust.

Such a release could go either way, really. There is always that fleeting chance that the jumbled bits of talent and musicianship that were left on the cutting board, were there for a reason. Not everything that has the moniker of "unreleased," you see, is accidentally given it. Thankfully, the opposite is also true. There are rare moments of wonder when you look over something that got left behind, and discover that it wasn't fool's gold after all, but the real thing.

And it is in the latter category that the twelve songs that make up How Can There Be Another Day? Belong. No fool's gold are these sonic nuggets, in any light.

From the weathered voice and staggered acoustic guitar riff that opens the album, on "One Clear Shot," it was as if someone had taken a pail of the freshest water and thrown it on my back; it just sent shivers down my spine, really. Thankfully, it wasn't just a one-time sensation. Every song on this album is a startling testament to the whimsical nature of the music industry.

Maybe if the raucous melody of "Jigsaw Puzzle" had ever received airplay, or the plaintive vocals on "Sorrow" had ever happened upon the ears of just the right disk-jockey, the story might have been different. Hell, if just the right number of people had heard the Collier and the band's superb cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man," these guys would be arm in arm with fame and fortune.

Here was this great band, with these wonderful songs, and it simply wasn't their time.

Hopefully, it was all meant to happen the way it did, though. Hopefully, these songs were simply biding their time until the planets aligned in just the right way, and the decision of Collier to open the studio's window and allow them to finally take flight, will finally allow people — people like me, who might otherwise have never heard of Collier, his band, or any of the wonderful music they created together — to do just that. To hear what we otherwise might have forever missed out on.

So, thank you Gerald, and thank you to the superb musicians that worked on this material. Thank you for allowing this music to see the light of day again, for recording it in the first place, and for allowing me the opportunity to review it.